What pervcentage of protein and fat should I be feeding my rat?

Question
Hello, I am the mother of a 12 year old who recently lost her two gerbils who lived to be a little over 5 years old. Shortly after she said she wanted a pet rat. I was, well...not very enthusiastic about the idea at first. Then, to my horror we had not one but two rats! It didn't take long and I realized they were like dogs, different yes...but wonderfully sociable and very sweet. Don't tell my daughter, but they even get a kiss goodnight from yours truly.

Anyway, here's my question. Our babies are about 8 weeks old now. We want to be able to give them the best best diet possible. Currently we are feed Nutriphase rat formula along with Forti-Diet Pellets by Kaytee (we think we can do better on that end). We supplement with a variety of fresh fruit and veggies to include broccoli, spinach, tomato, garlic, apples and grapes. What concerns me is two things; A. They never finish the dry food we give them, they like to pick out their favorite nibbles and B. while they always eat the fresh fruits and veggies, I don't know if they're getting a proper ratio between grains, fruits and veggies, fat and protein...particularly protein.

As we've given you a pretty good idea of what we feed, what you recommend we change?

Thanks,
Elaine....Mom to Tink and Bell

Answer
Nutriphase's main ingredients are hay - timothy and alfalfa -- which rats can't and won't eat. (They can't digest alfalfa at all, so they won't even try). I've heard so many mixed reports on what fat/protein/carb percentages to give them, however I use a basic block like Mazuri Lab Block and I mix it with a modified Suebee's Rat Diet (google it and you'll find the recipe) -- by Modified, I mean that I usually cut some price corners and buy cheaper/generic equivilants. Watch your sugars primarily, if its anything over about 18grams be stingy or avoid it altogether. You can also find a few in depth articles about rat nutrition from a lab point of view; however most lab diets just aren't "fun" so you'll have a rat who eats out of necessity but they won't much enjoy it.